Operation and Maintenance Support for the Experimental Lakes Area

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Canada’s IISD-Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA) is a unique, world-renowned field facility for freshwater research and training. Managed and operated by the charitable organization International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), IISD-ELA has been a global leader in conducting whole-ecosystem experiments. These experiments have been essential in shaping national and international environmental policy and understanding human impacts on freshwater. In this proposal we are requesting funds for the operation and maintenance of the IISD-ELA field station. IISD-ELA continues to be one of the few places in the world where an entire ecosystem can be manipulated without the influence of confounding variables (other human impacts). More than 50 whole ecosystem experiments have been completed at the ELA and these results have been used to inform countless policies on acid rain, eutrophication and mercury pollution among others. In addition ELA has one of the longest and most complete sets of data on hydrology, water quality and food web properties used to understand climate change. IISD-ELA has been used by researchers and their students from over 20 Canadian Universities. Over the years, countless international researchers from universities, domestic and international government agencies, and industry have based research projects at ELA. More importantly, IISD-ELA provides hands-on training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. Students become well-rounded environmental scientists who can conduct the highest-quality science of greatest value and relevance for healthy aquatic ecosystems and are able to lead new initiatives to evaluate and solve emerging problems on water.